Education Policy Analysis Archives/Archivos Analíticos de Políticas Educativas ISSN: 1068-2341 [email protected] Arizona State University Estados Unidos Friedrich, Daniel; Walter, Mia; Colmenares, Erica Making All Children Count: Teach For All and the Universalizing Appeal of Data Education Policy Analysis Archives/Archivos Analíticos de Políticas Educativas, vol. 23, 2015, pp. 1-18 Arizona State University Arizona, Estados Unidos Available in: http://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=275041389069 How to cite Complete issue Scientific Information System More information about this article Network of Scientific Journals from Latin America, the Caribbean, Spain and Portugal Journal's homepage in redalyc.org Non-profit academic project, developed under the open access initiative SPECIAL ISSUE Teach For All and Global Teacher Education Reform education policy analysis archives A peer -reviewed, independent, open access, multilingual journal epaa aape Arizona State University Volume 23 Number 48 April 20 th , 2015 ISSN 106 8-2341 Making All Children Count: Teach For All and the Universalizing Appeal of Data Daniel Friedrich Mia Walter & Erica Colmenares Teachers College, Columbia University United States Citation: Friedrich, D ., Walter, M. , & Colmenares, E. (2015). Mak ing all children count: Teach For All and the universalizing appeal of data . Education Policy Analysis Archives, 23 (48). http://dx.doi.org/10.14507/epaa.v23.1797 . This article is part of the Special Issue on Teach For All and Global Teacher Education Reform of EPAA/AAPE, Guest Edited by Daniel Friedrich and Rolf Straubhaar. Abstract: In this paper, we argue that in order to bind Teach For All’s universal/izing statement of problems and solutions to the specificities and the special conditions of member programs’ local contexts, what is needed is a shared set of discursive practices, a way of bringing together the commonalities found in each country while separating the noise of particular politics an d histories. That common set of discursive practices is shaped around the notion of data. This paper is structured as follows: First, we contextualize Teach for All by (briefly) juxtaposing the universal and specific elements of the network, including the organization’s mission, target population, its recruits (and recruiting tactics), vision, and its production of a particular kind of teacher. Then, we present the two competing, yet complementary , logics of data that are at play in Teach for All – the use of data itself and the notion of data speak – along with their Journal website: http://epaa.asu.edu/ojs/ Man uscript received: 7/30/2014 Facebook: /EPAAA Revisi ons received: 11/17/2014 Twitter: @epaa_aape Accepted: 12/19/2014 Education Policy Analysis Archives Vol. 23 No. 48 2 underlying assumptions. We conclude by questioning the logics of this set of discursive practices, and outline our skepticism regarding how data is mobilized to produce particular subjectivitie s and objects. Keywords: data interpretation; teacher education; globalization Que Cada Niño Cuente : Teach For All y el Llamado Universalizante de los Datos Resumen: En este trabajo, argumentamos que para ligar la declaración universal/izante de problemas y soluciones propuestas por Teach For All a las especificidades y condiciones especiales del contexto local de cada programa, se necesita de un conjunto de prácticas discursivas compartidas, esto es, una forma de entablar elementos comunes entre cada país , y separarlas del ruido producido por historias y políticas particulares. Ese conjunto de prácticas discursivas se conforma alrededor de la noción del dato. La estructura de este trabajo es la siguiente: primero, contextualizamos Teach For All brevemente yuxtaponiendo los elementos universales y particulares de la red, incluyendo la misión de la organización, la población a la que se dirige, sus reclutas (y técnicas de reclutamiento), visión, y su producción de un tipo particular de docente. Luego, present amos dos lógicas complementarias y en competencia que son puestas en juego por Teach For All – el uso de datos y la noción de un lenguaje de datos – junto a sus suposiciones subyacentes. Concluimos cuestionando las lógicas de este conjunto de prácticas dis cursivas, y esbozamos nuestro escepticismo en torno a las formas en las que los datos son movilizados para producir ciertas subjetividades y ciertos objetos. Palabras -clave: interpretación de datos; formación docente; globalización Fazendo Com Que Cada Cr iança Conte: Teach For All e o Encanto Universalizante dos Dados Resumo: Neste artigo, propomos que para ligar a declaração universal/izante de problemas e soluções apresentadas por Teach For All às especificidades e condições particulares dos contextos lo cais de seus programas parceiros, é necessário estabelecer um conjunto de práticas discursivas compartilhadas que possa juntar tudo o que estes vários contextos nacionais têm em comum e ao mesmo tempo manter à parte o ruído de suas histórias e políticas in dividuais. Este conjunto de práticas discursivas compartilhadas é baseado no conceito de dados. A estrutura deste artigo segue assim: primeiro, contextualizamos Teach For All justapondo brevemente os elementos universais e específicos da rede, incluíndo a missão da organização, seu público alvo, suas recrutas (e táticas de recrutamento), sua visão, e sua maneira de produzir um certo tipo de professor. Depois, apresentamos as duas lógicas (concorrentes e ao mesmo tempo complementares) de dados usados em jogo por Teach For All – o uso de dados em si e a noção de uma linguagem de dados – juntos com suas suposições subjacentes. Concluimos ao questionar a lógica deste conjunto de práticas discursivas, e elaboramos nosso ceticismo em relação a esta mobilização de dados para produzir subjetividades e objetos específicos. Palavras -chave: interpreta ção de dados; formação docente; globalização Teach For All is a global organization that emerged in 2007 from the combined efforts of Teach For America (US), Teach First (UK), and a group of international social entrepreneurs to bring their particular model of teacher education reform to the rest of the world .1 Teach For All is a unique enterprise in that it has a very clear model for training specific kinds of people to b ecome specific kinds of teachers, for specific populations, to produce specific solutions. Yet beyond this 1 For a more detailed history of Teach For All see their website ( http://www.teachforall.org ), as well as Friedrich (2014 ); McConney et al. (2012 ). Making All Children Count: Teach For All and the Universalizing Appeal of D ata 3 specificity lies a collective claim of universal problems, with universal solutions, backed by a universal notion of justice. In the words of Teach F or All’s CEO Wendy Kopp: “If our problems are the same, then it gives me hope that the solutions must be sharable ” (Cited in Murlidah, 2013). The solutions put forth by Wendy Kopp and Teach For All are clear -cut and center around the organization’s firm as sertion that the teacher is the most important variable for improving education and changing peoples’ lives and destinies (Dee & Wykoff, 2013; Hess, 2006; Kopp, 2003). By providing quality teachers in a way that is engaging and cost -effective, Teach For Al l positions itself as revolutionary, subversive of the status quo, and all the while, commonsensical. However, less clear -cut are the shared problems Teach For All aims to solve. Despite sweeping claims that schools (globally and in the US) are failing s ociety and especially under -represented groups, the actual substance of the shared problems remains ambiguous. Given the shaky foundations of a problem posed as universal in settings as diverse as South Africa, Pakistan, Germany , and Israel, some questions emerged for us: what is the system of thought that allows for a problem to be posed as universal, yet have specific appeal in such different locations? What is the language in which this problem is expressed? What kinds of teachers do these discursive pra ctices contribute to producing? In this paper, we argue that in order to bind the specificities and the special conditions of each context to the universal/izing statement of problems and solutions that Teach For All proposes, what is needed is a shared s et of discursive practices ,2 a way of bringing together the commonalities found in each country while separating the noise of particular politics and histories. That common set of discursive practices is shaped around the notion of data . Inspired by Gitelm an’s (2013) work in media history, we define data as the “units or morsels of information that in aggregate form the bedrock of modern policy decisions by government and nongovernmental authoritie s” (p. 1). We do not believe that data speak for themselves, or that the utterances of data are clear and unambiguous. This paper is structured as follows: First, after a brief description of our methodological approach, we contextualize Teach For All by juxtaposing the universal and specific elements of the netwo rk – the organization’s mission, target population, its recruits (and recruiting tactics), vision, and its production of a particular kind of teacher (Friedrich, 2014). Then, we present the two competing, yet complementary logics of data that are at play i n Teach For All – the notion of data speak and the use of data itself – along with their underlying assumptions. We conclude by questioning the logics of this set of discursive practices, and outline some implications regarding how data are mobilized to pr oduce particular subjectivities and objects. Methodological Approach In an effort to begin answering the questions posed above, we turned to the global social media site Twitter. As real time data aggregator, Twitter acts as a digital archive, capturing t he opinions and commentary of its 234 million active users .3 Among these users are the Teach For All Network, its thirty -four partner organizations, and a growing global teaching corps. We examined their accounts to better understand how the Teach For All message of one problem, one solution is discussed, taken up, and disseminated.